Festival goers wait to board a Skyway car during One Spark on Saturday.

One Spark coverage

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Ricky Weeks lives in Argyle and enjoys crafting copper sculptures in a shed in his backyard.

The problem is his house is filling up with the sculptures and the 56-year-old man doesn’t have the first clue about how to start selling them.

He said he’s hoping to make some connections this week with local artists who can point him in the right direction and give him an idea about how much his art is worth.

“I’m real modest about my art so I’m just trying to get some opinions from people who know a thing or two,” Weeks said.

Weeks said he’s trying to raise $10,000 for a studio where he can work on and display his sculptures because he plans to spend more time on his hobby the closer he gets to retirement.

Erin Thursby has gotten used to puzzled expressions during her time at One Spark.

Thursby, the executive director of Gastrofest Jacksonville, wants to bring a food festival to Jacksonville and is asking people at One Spark to vote for it. Most people seem puzzled when she first tells them what her project is, and then express surprise that one doesn’t already exist in Jacksonville.

A food festival would spotlight local businesses, and educate people about food. It would be similar to Taste of Chicago, a big food festival in the windy city, Thursby said.

It also helps preserve the culture of the city, because part of culture is food, she said.

Standing in a booth in Main Street Park Kate Rouh is finding out that many people don’t even know they’re in a park.

Which makes it harder for Rouh to explain that her One Spark project is tiling the park with mosaic.

“It’s really a long-term improvement that makes the park much more beautiful,” Thursby said.

It’s already been done at Balboa Park in San Diego and other parks throughout the country,” she said.

But she’s finding that most people don’t know that the area across Main Street from the downtown library is a park. But that only shows her project is needed, Rouh said.

“When I tell people they idea they love it,” she said. “What I find gratifying is everyone from homeless people to the lawyer who works down the street to the skateboarders get really excited when I tell them what I want to do.”

Usually “that’s cool” is just an expression.

But for the last few days the people saying it to Steve Parry have meant it literally.

Parry has brought the “Polar Pod” to One Spark. It is a pod that is set to 50 degrees with a television and other amenities inside.

“If your real hot and you want to stay out you can walk in here for five to ten minutes and be refreshed,” Parry said.

The pod can be used while tailgating, at concerts, and other events where you’re outside in the heat for a long period of time, he said.

Dogs like beer, but it’s not good for them. So Bret Anderson and his mother, Mary Jo Anderson, are at One Spark trying to get funding to make Buddy Brew, a brew for dogs.